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Strip club’s promo mailer alarms guests with suspicious substance

A Baltimore strip club’s marketing scheme for an end-of-summer luau caused the wrong kind of excitement this week. The invitation was so cheeky it had recipients dialing 911.

Wanting to include “a little part of the beach” in its mailer, the gentleman’s club Scores added sand in the envelopes welcoming local businesses to its annual luau-themed party. The party promoters failed to realize their store-bought sand could easily be mistaken for anthrax or other dangerous powders. The fact they sent it in unmarked envelopes certainly didn’t help, either.

When the package arrived at the Constellation Energy Group offices in downtown Baltimore, employees called 911. The Baltimore Fire Department responded with a full-fledged hazardous materials team and evacuated the area, only to find the unknown substance was indeed sand.

According to the Baltimore Sun, emergency calls related to the invitations were made all around the Baltimore region, and reached as far as Washington D.C. Fire spokesman Ian Brennan told the Sun that the mailer required “spending a lot of resources” to investigate concerns.

Not long ago, a stunt like this would’ve been deemed a clever promotional plot. Instead, the party promoters didn’t stop to think we live in a post-9/11 world, and wasted a good chunk of taxpayer dollars in doing so.